The Story

Kimberly, 15, was diagnosed with leukemia on Friday, July 28th. She was not feeling well this summer and was taken in to be tested for mono. The mono screen was negative but her blood cell counts were off. The pathologist found the cancer cells on the blood smear. She flew to Denver on Sunday with Jim via an Alert Medical flight. If her platelet count stays high enough, she is scheduled to have surgery on Monday to place a port, do a bone marrow biopsy and also have a spinal tap to look for malignant cells. At that time they will also place chemotherapy into the CNS fluid. We are told that we should have a definitive diagnosis by the afternoon, if all goes as planned. Then we will have a roadmap for treatment and know how long she has to stay in Denver. Whether she has AML or ALL, they hope to start chemotherapy on Tuesday. She has asked for cards and letters, texts and calls. Her address for now is: Kimberly Peacock Room 771 c/o Children's Hospital of Colorado 13123 F. 17th P1 Aurora, CO 80045. Jim will stay the night with her tonight but then should have a room at the Ronald McDonald house on the hospital campus. We very much appreciate the cards, flowers, visits, phone calls and texts. Please know that even if we haven't responded we are very appreciative, just lacking on time and focus at the moment to follow up. We are confident in our peds oncology staff here, and have heard amazing things about the Denver hospital. At this time her prognosis is good. Thank you again for all the support.

Fundraiser Updates

Posted on February 20, 2018

Posted on February 20, 2018

Jim and Kimberly have arrived at Stanford and checked into the Ronald McDonald house. Their mailing address for the next 5 weeks is:Ronald McDonald House at StanfordRm. A211 - Attn: Peacock520 Sandhill Rd.Palo Alto, CA 94304 Kimberly starts her chemo tomorrow to get rid of her T-cells and make room for her new, engineered T-cells. She has chemo for 3 days, gets a PICC line on Thursday and will be admitted, and gets her new cells on Friday. While it's still scary and unknown, it's nice to feel that we are making some forward progress. Thank you all for your continued support!

Posted on February 16, 2018

Posted on February 16, 2018

(Heather's update from yesterday)

Kimberly and Jim are off to Stanford! Three days of driving should get them there, and a piece of my heart goes with them. It is much less scary than the first time she headed off to a medical facility via air ambulance. Please keep them in your travel mercy prayers, as well as Haylie, who heads back home tonight for a long weekend.

Posted on February 7, 2018

Posted on February 7, 2018

(Heather's update)

We are in the leukemia CAR-T study! We received word yesterday afternoon that the paperwork had been signed, and Kimberly will now officially go down to Stanford. What does this mean? Kimberly's cells that were collected in December will start to be processed on February 13 to recognize proteins on the leukemia surface. Kimberly and Jim will start the long drive to Stanford around February 15th. Kimberly will receive chemo on February 19, 20 and 21 as an outpatient to clear out her remaining T-cells and make room for the new, engineered T-cells. She will then be admitted on the 22nd, and receive her new cells on Friday, February 23rd. She will be an inpatient for about 14 days while they look for an (expected) reaction. Then she will be an outpatient for another 14 days. She will have another bone marrow biopsy on March 22nd, and be done with treatment at Stanford on March 23rd. The next week we will find out if the new CAR-T cells have done their job....we are hoping and praying for no detectable disease!

Kimberly's bone marrow biopsy done at Stanford last week showed 0.15% disease in her bone marrow. She is currently off chemo until she arrives at Stanford, because if she starts again it forces Stanford to do another bone marrow biopsy and re-qualify her. She received an antibiotic infusion yesterday to help prevent her from getting pneumonia. She is feeling pretty good and has color in her face, which is a bit alarming to me since she hasn't had color for 6 months. We are planning on keeping her out of school for the most part until she returns from California, as we don't want to run the risk of her getting sick and jeapordizing her place in the study. I don't have an address yet for them, but we have applied for housing through the Ronald McDonald house. I will post an address as soon as I have one. This is exciting and terrifying all at once, but we truly feel that this is a turning point in treating cancer. Kimberly is a tough kid with a great attitude, and she is more than ready for this challenge. Please keep her in your prayers for strength and a curative response. Thank you for all your support!